Atlus set to self-publish future titles, including Persona 4 Arena, in Europe on May 28 by Mitch Jay

In a not so surprising announcement, it has come to light that Atlus will be publishing Persona 4 Arena in Europe themselves. Whether this will also apply to future Persona games is unclear at the moment.

Geraint Evans, Head of Marketing at PQube, has stated they will no longer be publishing Persona 4 Arena digitally in Europe. Atlus will now be handling publishing duties themselves on this themselves – which may explain the titles absence on PSN over the last week.

This shift to self-publishing digitally, is a move that’s recently been mirrored by Arc System Work’s release of BlazBlue: Chronophantasma. We suspect that this will most likely be the same with Ultra Ultimax Suplex Hold and other Atlus titles.

How do you feel about this recent shift towards digital only releases in Europe? Hopefully Persona has enough pull in Europe to justify a physical release and limited/collector’s editions.

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Talk about alienating – It’s a shame to admit, but I’ve grown used to it already. I’m no longer supporting BlazBlue for the mean time, and I’ll likely not support future Persona releases if this becomes trending with developers.

The harsh reality is that people might wonder if better digital sales will influence a move to self-publishing a physical release. If more people take the route I have and just showed our disapproval of digital only, will that instead influence Atlus more towards staying digital due to a potential loss of sales in Europe? As such, it creates confusion amongst dislike for digital.

At times like these, tossing fans in a loop doesn’t better the situation either. However what irks me most is what I had thought might happen seems to have came true in that other companies are following Arc System Works decision on Chonophantasma – whose next, Ghostlight? NIS America?

I ♥ Japanese Games

When publishers decide to go digital only – they’re essentially saying – their titles are second rate. They don’t deserve the level of effort required to create a physical release.

Fact is, there’s no excuse for not making a physical version of the game other than laziness – if Senran Kagura can get a physical release in Europe and be a success, then why can’t other games.

I think it’s because these games are being published remotely by the US or Japan in this territory – so they want to go down the path that takes the least amount of effort.

Look at Monster Monpiece, just because Idea Factory got cold feet with some of those cards in the US – we get the bad version in the EU. I’d be interested to know if Monster Monpiece would have been sencored in Europe of Zen had published it. I’m guessing not after they way they released Senran Kagura.